Fate Alpha
by Rocker1600
Summary: The Fourth Holy Grail War is about to begin. Four masters, however, do not get the servant they were expecting. To top it all off, an abnormal class Servant is summoned with a Heroic Spirit all-too-perfect for said class filling in. Now watch as a different Grail War unfolds. Occurs during the "Fate/Zero" timeline.
1. 1 Unforeseen Circumstances

**Fate/Alpha**

 **So, after reading certain fics, most notably X the Reaper's "Fate/Zero Sanity" which you guys should also check out, I've decided to throw my own hat into the "Replace every servant except Saber, and possibly Rider and Archer, in Fate/Zero" ring.**

 **Note that this fic will be based on my personal interpretation of the Fate series which means certain details, large and small, will differ greatly from the canonical version of the franchise. In addition, certain aspects from one of the new Servant's universe will be added to this version as well.**

 **Also, due to certain issues surrounding the background of one of the other Servants, I will be adding stuff to their background that hasn't happened in their actual stories due to their actual stories still being ongoing.**

 **Finally, I'd like to thank DocHoliday0316 for helping me with this chapter! Seriously, you guys should thank him and the best way to do that is to check his fics out. He also plans to do a Fate fic of his own... though one that's a bit... different than most.**

 **Anyways, with that out of the way, here goes nothing! ...Oh and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!**

Disclaimer: I don't own the Fate series or any of the other series which appear in this fic. Any characters and other related items are the property of their respective copyright holders.

Please fave, follow, and review this story.

Opening Song: "Disillusion 2010" by Sachi Tainaka (Fate/Stay Night)

Ending Song: "Memoria" by Eir Aoi (Fate/Zero)

 **Chapter 1 - Unforeseen Circumstances**

 _"I am the Alpha... the First... the Beginning"  
_

 _-_ Abridged Except from the Book of Revelation 22:13

 _In a world between worlds, there existed an item, a chalice known as the Holy Grail. Despite what most people might assume, however, it is not the sacred chalice used by Christ and his 12 Apostles during the Last Supper but is instead a magical device created by three powerful families of mages, the Tohsakas, the Matous, and the Einzberns. This device had the power to grant a single wish to whoever uses it, and is the center of a conflict known as the Holy Grail War._

 _In this war, the Grail chooses seven mages who then summon seven Servants, legendary heroes reborn anew to fight in this war under one of seven classes: Archer, Assassin,_ _Berserker, Caster, Lancer, Rider, and Saber. The mages, with their Servants at their side, then fight each to the death using whatever methods they need to win, all for the chance of being granted a wish of their choice upon their victory, whatever it might be._

 _Unbeknownst to everyone, however, a terrible darkness has consumed the once-pure Grail. After three inconclusive Grail War, and a series of unforeseen events, an irregular Servant who was killed in the Third Grail War, known as Angra Mainyu, had managed to become the consciousness of the Grail, corrupting it to his will. Now the spirit of Angra Mainyu waited for the day that someone would finally break the deadlock of the Grail Wars and set him loose onto the world..._

* * *

[Unknown Dimension]

 _Current Time..._

...and, after 57 years of waiting, with 3 more years to go until the next Grail War, Angra Mainyu was BORED. Despite being the consciousness of a device that exists beyond time, Angra Maiynu was once human and had to deal with human emotions, or at least his corrupted version of human emotions, and waiting around in a dimension filled with nothing to do for any long stretch of time would cause any human being to feel the worst kind of boredom they could imagine. And this boredom had led to Angra looking to the upcoming Grail War, the Fourth one overall and the first with a corrupted Grail as the unfortunate prize, and the Servants who were to be summoned.

While Angra, or the "Grail" since Angra was now the consciousness, already planned to spice things up by adding an eighth Servant into the mix, he still was unsure about the seven Servants who had been chosen as its thoughts on the roster were, to put it mildly, mixed.

At least three of the Servants, who all happened to be kings, were interesting enough to keep. Saber was the chivalrous badass who was was a girl and whose identity, and the stark contrast it created with her gender, had secured her place in the Grail War in Angra's figurative eyes. Archer was a contender for the most arrogant glamorous douchebag in history, but that lent a certain charm to the Servant who was more than able to back up his pride with his awesome power. Finally, Rider was the manliest man of manliness who had a charisma that stole the show, so to speak, wherever he goes and was so badass that Angra wished he could just have this guy be the Rider for every Grail War.

These three Servants clearly made the cut... the other Servants, however, were not as interesting for Angra.

Lancer, while capable, was a less interesting carbon copy of both Saber and Berserker who focused too much on his honor and sense of "fairness." Berserker himself would have been interesting, what with his background and relation to Saber, if he had been mentally strong enough to not turn into a growling psychotic mute like every other Berserker; sadly, this was not the case. Caster, meanwhile, was simply too creepy in all the wrong ways for Angra's tastes while Assassin was the worst of all the Servants, having almost no personality whatsoever, and the little it did have was split among multiple copies. Clearly, in Angra's "mind," these Servants were lacking in many aspects.

Besides, Throne of Heroes wasn't lacking in more interesting heroes to choose from... especially if one counts those heroes from alternate dimensions that also resided in the Throne of Heroes.

Therefore, after considering it's options, the corrupted Grail made a decision.

" _ **Eh, fuck it. The rules are already being bent, so let's bend them as far as possible,**_ " the Grail thought.

So the Grail "looked" at the myriad of heroes and choose four new Servants for the Assassin, Berserker, Caster, and Lancer class. As the Grail made its choices, it "grinned" at the thought of how Saber, Rider, Archer, and the masters would deal with these new choices.

Before it was done, however, the Grail made sure to make its pick for the eighth Servant who would fill a new class not seen before in the Grail Wars. Being that Angra was once the irregular Avenger-class servant, it was tempted to have another of his class join the fray but, ultimately, it went for a more unorthodox choice. While the chosen class presented certain risks to the Grail itself, however, its pent-up boredom meant that it couldn't resist the potential entertainment the specific hero chosen for the eighth servant could provide so it choose the class that best suited that servant.

Besides, giving the class it choose for this Servant, it's not like the servant could actually win the War himself.

After making these changes, the Grail "relaxed" as it waited for the Fourth Holy Grail War to come in three years. Regardless of whatever happened, and whoever won, lost, lived, or died, it would definitely be very enjoyable.

[Unspecified Warehouse. Fuyuki City]

 _Three Years Later..._

The year is 1994, and the time for the Fourth Grail War to start was only weeks away. The seven masters had all been chosen to participate and all of them, save for one who, were either actively preparing the ritual or were about to summon their Servant, having already finished their preparations.

Among those in the latter category of Masters was one Kirei Kotomine, a former Executor (basically a person who kills demons and "heretics") of the Church. Despite having excelled in almost every field associated with the Executors, which made him a formidable opponent, he was, in his mind, still unprepared for this conflict between mages.

Complicating things further for him was that, based on what he knew about the Grail Wars, he did not understand why he was chosen by this Holy Grail to fight in the war. The closest thing to a desire that Kirei had was to know why he the way he was, which is something that he didn't want to think about.

The only reason he even bothered to participate in the Grail War, as far as he was concerned, was because of external factors or, rather, one external factor: his father, Risei Kotomine.

When the Command Seals marking him as a master in the war appeared on Kirei's hand three years earlier, Risei brought him to meet a man name Tokiomi Tohsaka, a magus who was an acquaintance of his father and who had good relations with the Church. Tokiomi had explained the entire situation to Kirei. Tokiomi, who was also chosen to be part of the Grail War, then explained why he was telling Kirei all this information and why Risei brought the Executor to see him.

The three families of mages who had originally created the Grail had done so with the intention of reaching something called Akasha, which was also known to the mages as "the root of all knowledge." Over time, however, the Matous and Einzberns have strayed from this goal and now desire the Grail for their own reasons, with only the Tohsakas remaining true to the original goal. As such Risei, knowing that he could trust Tokiomi and that the Tohsaka's goal wouldn't lead to the destruction of the world, decided to cast his lot with Tokiomi so that the Tohsaka head would win the war.

Since Risei could not directly support Tokiomi, however, as he was supposed to be the "impartial" mediator for the Grail, Tokiomi and Risei decided to have Kirei, who was thankfully chosen to participate in the upcoming war, fight as part of an alliance with Tokiomi. To that end, Tokiomi offered to train Kirei in the ways of the Magus so that he could aid the Tohsaka family head.

While he himself had no true desire for the Grail, at least from what he could tell, Kirei decided to take Tokiomi on his offer. Now, after three years of training under the Tohsaka family head, he now stood in the middle of this abandoned warehouse, the preparations for the summoning of his servant. Tokiomi had provided Kirei with the shattered remains of the skull mask of Hassan-i-Sabbah (AKA "The Old Man of the Mountain"), who was the intended summon, keyword being INTENDED, which was placed in the summoning circle located in the center of the warehouse from where the Servant would emerge.

"It is time," Kirei said before he began the chant.

" _Silver and iron to the origin. Gem and the archduke of contracts to the cornerstone. The ancestor is my great master Schweinorg._

 _The alighted wind becomes a wall. The gates in the four directions close, coming from the crown, the three-forked road that leads to the kingdom circulate._

 _Shut (fill). Shut (fill). Shut (fill). Shut (fill). Shut (fill)._

 _Repeat every five times._

 _Simply, shatter once filled._

 _――――I announce._

 _Your self is under me, my fate(doom) is in your sword._

 _In accordance with the approach of the Holy Grail, if you abide by this feeling, this reason, then answer._

 _Here is my oath. I am the one who becomes all the good of the world of the dead, I am the one who lays out all the evil of the world of the dead._

 _You, seven heavens clad in three words of power, arrive from the ring of deterrence, O keeper of the balance ―――!_ "

Upon finishing his incantation Kirei was forced to shield his eyes as a bright flash of light filled the room before immediately dissipating almost as quickly as it happened, at which point he opened his eyes and got a good first look at his Servant.

It became clear to Kirei that something was wrong, even if his facial expression didn't change to reflect this anxiety. While he didn't know what to expect, it was clear based on appearances alone that this Servant was NOT "Hundred-Faced Hassan"; hell, the Servant was clearly not even of Middle Eastern descent.

What stood in the summoning circle in place of Hassan was a man of Caucasian descent who appeared to be in his mid-to-late thirties. The man had hawk-like brown eyes, wavy brown hair, a rather prominent nose, and a goatee.

The man was dressed in a rather bulky suit of armor over grey robes. The most notable thing about said armor was brown fur that was padded around a pauldron and neck. He also wore a red hooded rove, though said hood was pulled down, and a red cape that had gold trimming. Said cape was held in place by a silver eagle on his right shoulder. Completing the armor was a set of vambraces, greaves, and brown boots. On his right hand was what appeared to be a silver metal cestus. On his waist was a belt that contained pouches for various equipment, along with several throwing knives. Asides from that, there was also grey dagger and a very distinct silver sword. The sword's cross guard resembled a spread eagle's wings, and the pommel was in the shape of an eagle's head. Mounted on the right side of his back was a small crossbow pistol.

The Servant simply stood still for several tense moments before he turned to face Kirei and spoke.

"Io sono il Servitore, Assassino (I am the Servant. Assassin.). I take it you are my Maestro (Master)?" the Servant asked in Italian, which Kirei recognized due to his time in the Church, specifically from what he learned during various trips to Italy.

"Yes, I am... Ezio Auditore," Kirei answered, while lifting his left arm to show his Command Seals.

Kirei's observation of Assassin's dialogue, coupled with his knowledge about the Servant's attire and armaments, left no doubt that this was not "The Old Man of the Mountain"... but it also left no doubt as to Assassin's true identity.

"Bene (Good). Then our contract is complete. That said, however, I must ask padre (father)... how you know my name?" Assassin asked, having noticed the priestly attire of his master, with a raised eyebrow.

Kirei, his expression as impassable as it has always been, decided to enlighten his Servant.

"Your exploits are well known to both the Church and the Mage's Association as well as they are to the Assassins and, if they were still here, the Templars; besides, you attire, armor, and armaments were a dead give away based on the records we have. The Grail will grant you knowledge of everything that's happened since your time any moment, though, so its best you save anymore questions that you might have for a little while," Kirei pointed out.

Assassin nodded in understanding before speaking again.

"Now that introductions are out of the way, I think it's time to leave this place and head to your hideout," Assassin suggested while lifting up his hood, which now covered most of his upper face.

Kirei nodded in agreement and motioned for Assassin to follow him before walking out of the building, the former head of the Assassin Order in tow.

While he was still surprised with the Servant he got but, all things considered, he might be better off than if he had summoned the intended Servant.

Assuming the Assassins don't freak out when they found out about this summoning, it ultimately doesn't matter who Assassin is as far as Kirei was concerned (regardless, Kirei knew he had to contact his father and Tokiomi to inform them of this development).

After all, it's not like things could go further astray in this war... right...?

[Penthouse Suite, Fuyuki City Hyatt Hotel]

 _Three Weeks Later..._

Kirei wasn't the only Master who would learn that the Catalyst they used to summon their Servant were, for all intents and purposes, rendered useless.

Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald, the current head of the Archibald magus family, was currently looking at the Servant he just summoned with a confused scowl on his face (a look that his Servant returned in kind). Kayneth's confusion was shared by his fiance, Sola-Ui Nuada-Re Sophia-Ri (or Sola-Ui for short), who looked at the Servant with equal amounts of confusion and surprise, though she expressed it by holding her mouth and the confusion and surprise showing mostly in her hazel eyes. One couldn't blame either Magus for their reactions, though, given the context of the situation.

Originally, Kayneth had planned to summon Rider, with the catalyst being a remnant of the cape worn by the legendary warrior Alexander the Great. That plan was shot to hell, however, when someone stole the cape, showing just how bad Kayneth was as safeguarding valuables. Despite this setback, Kayneth, who knew that he had many rivals who might've wanted to pull a stunt like this, was able to shift gears, having acquired a backup catalyst just in case something like this happened. His backup catalysts were the remnants of the mythical swords Moralltach and Beagalltach which would be used to summon Diarmuid Ua Duibhne, also known as Diarmuid of the Love Spot, who would be summoned as Lancer despite the catalysts being two swords instead of spears. Kayneth had performed the ritual perfect and he knew the catalysts were absolutely authentic, having the blades checked again and again to make sure of it, but it was clear that something had gone wrong as the being that stood before him and Sola-Ui was DEFINITELY NOT Diarmuid.

Instead, he got a very large Asian man (who's features made it hard for Kayneth or Sola-Ui to even try to approximate an age), roughly 6'10" in height and seemingly of a very muscular build, with green eyes and black hair that was spiky at the front and tied in a ponytail in the back that reached down in his upper back.

The man wore a fairly bulky suit of black armor that covered most of his body, with the front of the breastplate decorated with golden fittings that took the appearance of a demon's face, save for his head as he wore no helmet. In place of a helmet, he wore a rather elaborate gold and green headpiece that sat on top of his head, right in front of his ponytail, from which seemed to sprout two very long, red, antenna-like (for like of a better term) feathers that draped down behind him and flowing out to either side of his rather large frame, the tips of both "antennae" reaching almost down to the man's knees.

Finally, the man's right hand was grasping a weapon, clearly the Servant's Noble Phantasm, which took the form of a massive golden halberd, with a large red jewel embedded in the center of bladed part (seemingly made from a single piece), which was complemented by a red horse-hair tassel tied just below the killing parts of the weapon. Also located underneath the head of the weapon was a purple grip-like cover which was exactly like the purple grip located near the bottom end of the weapon's shaft (curiously, the man was not gripping the weapon with either grip but, rather, gripped it with his right hand somewhere between both grips).

Overall, the man struck a very imposing figure... and one that Kayneth could easily, possibly unfortunately depending on one's perspective, recognize as the Servant was the first to break the silence... by effortlessly lifting his halberd upwards and pointing it at Kayneth, who was caught off guard, before addressing.

"You there... am I to assume that you're the one who summoned me?" the man asked in very rough voice, a voice that seemingly exuded with strength and confidence (or possibly arrogance depending on one's point of view), although the way the man said it made it seem more like a command than a question.

Kayneth quickly regained his wits after this hostile display and was quick to respond (whilst he secretly readied a Command Seal in case things went south really fast).

"That is correct," Kayneth said, the Magus keeping a calm and collected expression on his face to match his tone of voice, as he showed the Command Seals on his right hand to prove his reply (while being careful to ensure that the Servant didn't notice he had one of those seals ready to activate at a moment's notice).

Kayneth, whilst maintaining his composure despite the now possibly perilous situation he now found himself in (even if one ignored the fact that the spear tip of the Servant's halberd was pointed at the Magus' neck, mere millimeters from his jugular vein and carotid artery), decided to ask the two questions that raced through his and Sola-Ui's minds.

"Before this... discussion, goes any further, I need to know where Diarmuid is and why you were summoned in his place... Lu Bu," Kayneth questioned.

The master could tell just by the man's attire. due to having read the _Romance of the Three Kingdoms_ (he had a copy of the work which he had acquired as a gift through a mutual business contact; it was one of the few books he had that wasn't related to Magecraft), that this was not Diarmuid of the Love Spot, but was, fact, Lu Bu, the mighty warrior from the period of China's Late Han Dynasty/Early Three Kingdoms Era. He knew that, as a warrior, Lu Bu was nearly unparalleled, his abilities possibly rivaling even the strongest demigods and, coupled with any enhancements he gained as a Servant, this meant that Kayneth had possibly one of the strongest, if not the strongest, Servants in this war. Unfortunately, Kayneth was also aware of the fact that Lu Bu was famous for backstabbing almost everyone he ever allied and/or served under which, coupled with his ego, meant that he (Kayneth) might be in greater danger from his own Servant than from the other Masters and Servants. Despite this sudden and expected danger, or likely because of it, Kayneth knew he had to swallow his own pride for the moment and handle this situation with restraint, lest he end up like so many of Lu Bu's masters.

The Servant, for his part, let out a scoff before answering Kayneth's question.

"I know nothing of this Diarmuid you speak of and I don't know what became of him. I can assure you, though, that he's most assuredly nothing compared to me," Lu Bu replied. He then moved the tip of his halberd just a little bit closer to Kayneth's neck before he continued speaking (cutting Kayneth off from whatever he might've been getting ready to say).

"Listen to me, Magus, and listen well for this with be the first and only time I shall say this. You may have summoned me to fight on your behalf, but do not for a moment think of me as a mere Servant. I am no mere lapdog you can whistle for, nor am I a mere tool for you to use as you please, for I am Lu Bu, the greatest warrior to ever live, whether in this world or my own. I am the one who conquered all the lands of the realm you call China. I am the one who ousted the weak puppet that was the Han Emperor and who founded a new dynasty through my strength and the strength and cunning of my armies..." Lu Bu began... before Kayneth cut him off at the end of that sentence.

"Wait just one moment. With all due respect, you say you conquered all of China but, last I read, that's not how your story went. From what I recall, you were captured by Cao Cao and Liu Bei at Xiapi before the former had you executed," Kayneth said with caution. His statement eerily matched Sola-Ui's thoughts on the matter (the woman having read Kayneth's copy of _The Romance of the Three Kingdoms_ one day when she had nothing else to do; she was, therefore, also aware of Lu Bu's story); just what delusion was Lu Bu living with?

To the surprise of both Magi, Lu Bu, rather than getting angrily provoked Kayneth's response, merely smirked at this before giving a response that, figuratively speaking, raised eyebrows for both Magi.

"You are most certainly referring to that pathetic failure that bares my name from this world. I can assure you that I am nothing like that worm, either. That one was nothing but a pathetic, foolish rat who had neither the strength or sense to conquer. It does not deserve to call himself Lu Bu but still dares to have the gall to call himself by that name. I am far greater than that dog or anyone else summoned to this war and, because of that, you will remember what I'm about to say," Lu Bu replied before making sure he had the full attention of Kayneth and Sola-Ui. When he was certain that this was the case, he continued his demands.

"You may have been the one to summon me and you are the one who is anchoring me to this world, but do not think for a moment that I am a Servant ready to do your bidding, or that you are the Master of me. I will fight with you, accept your council whenever I find it acceptable to do so, and ignore when I don't, and in turn, as my time as Emperor is over and I am no longer a living ruler of men, you will treat me as you would any of your peers, accept my decisions on how I choose to fight this Holy Grail War when I reject your council, and you will not use those infernal Command Seals unless to increase my might or to summon me to your side in case you are in danger. Finally, I will not call you my Master but address you by your name and, in turn, you will not address as a "Servant" or any title of similar meaning; you will either call me by my name or, if that is too much for you, you may call me Lancer. Those are my terms for our contract. Agree to those terms and stick to them, and we shall have no quarrel as I slay all in our our way on the road to victory; refuse these terms, or violate them at any time, and I will crush you the same way as I crushed those miserable Ten Eunuchs, that fat pig Dong Zhou, or any of those who were foolish enough to oppose me in life and lost. Do we have an agreement, Magus?" he demanded.

A brief but very uneasy silence followed which lasted for a very tense few seconds before Sola-Ui, who had been silent up to that point, decided to address her beloved(NOT!) fiance.

"Kayneth..." Sola-Ui said rather curtly.

"Yes, Sola-Ui?" Kayneth said even as he was still facing Lu Bu.

"You and I should just agree to Lancer's terms. Refusing him doesn't seem to be an option here," Sola-Ui said rather dryly.

"Agreed. (he now speaks to Lu Bu) I'll agree to your conditions, though I expect you'll be able to back up your boasts and then some in return in this war in return. Does that sound fair to you?" Kayneth said to Lu Bu.

"Heh, sounds good to me. And you'll see soon enough that I my might is more than real... Kayneth," Lu Bu scoffed.

At this point Lu Bu, after holding his halberd way too close to Kayneth's neck for the Magus' liking, ever so slowly lowered his weapon until Lancer was holding it as he was when he was initially summoned, before said weapon seemingly vanished into thin air. With that out of the way, both Magi finally eased up now that it seemed Lu Bu was not going to kill them (for now, at least).

At this point, Lu Bu spoke up again.

"Now that our 'contract' is completed, what happens now? I'm itching for a fight," Lu Bu proclaimed, his voice filled with a great deal of intense eagerness that some might compared to a predator on the hunt for prey. Kayneth sighed at this; even if this was a different Lu Bu to the one from this world, as he claimed to be, the love of battle seemed to be a trait both shared in seemingly equal abundance.

"I'm sure you are, Lancer. The war doesn't officially begin for a few days, though, so we must wait a bit longer before the fighting can begin. I was going to have us begin formulating a strategy to win this war once I had completed the summoning ritual... but it's been a long day and I've just used up what energy I had left for the day and am now too exhausted to bother right now, so we'll save that for tomorrow, if that's alright with either of you," Kayneth said. When both Lu Bu and Sola-Ui nodded in response, he continued to speak.

"Very well, then. I shall retire to my quarters for the night. We have a big day tomorrow," the Magus said said before he turned around and began heading to the bedroom he had reserved for his use in the penthouse.

Once he entered and closed the door behind him, Sola-Ui turned to speak directly to Lancer.

"Please forgive Kayneth, Lancer. As he said, it's been a long day and the fact that your summoning was unexpected was a bit of a shock for both of us. In any case, let me welcome you to our world. I am Sola-Ui Nuada-Re Sophia-Ri, though you can just call me Sola-Ui. I will be providing you with most of your Prana during the war," Sola-Ui began. Lu Bu, who had turned to face her when she began speaking, raised an eyebrow at that last part, which Sola-Ui immediately caught on to.

"Forgive me for the confusion. You see, the system used to summon you is different when compared to what most Magi use to summon Heroic Spirits. Due to these differences, the duties normally assigned to just the one Magus were split. To make a long story short, it means I will the one providing you with the most energy needed to both sustain your existence and to power your abilities instead of Kayneth," she explained.

"I see..." was all that Lu Bu said in response, as much of a confirmation that he understood Sola-Ui as she would get.

"Anyways, I hope you will fight your best in the Holy Grail War, Lancer. Now with all that out of the way, is there anything you would like before I retire for the night as well?" Sola-Ui asked.

At that moment, Lancer held out his right hand as an object appeared out of nowhere and fell into said open hand, revealing itself to be a pouch filled with gold coins.

"I have access to that waste of space called the royal treasury and no empire that I need to fund with it. As such, I have plenty of money so I might as well get some use out of. How does one procure a strong drink in this world?" Lu Bu asked.

Sola-Ui spent the last moments of the night before she went to bed showing the famed warrior the menu for room service as well as showing him how to use the phone to call up a drink, or food, to be sent to the room. Even as she did so, however, she (like Kayneth and many others) began wondering why the summoning ritual had gone astray and what it meant for them and the Grail War as a whole...

[Secret Cellar, Matou Residence]

 _Two Days Later..._

With only a day to go before the Fourth Holy Grail War officially begins, it was now the time that those Masters who had yet to summon their Servants were about to "fix" that issue, including one Master who had very personal stakes that forced him into this Grail War, said Master being Kariya Matou.

Despite being chosen to participate in the War as a Master, Kariya had no real desire for the Grail and, in all honesty, would have never gotten involved if it wasn't for a horrible revelation he got a year earlier. As a member of the Matou family, Kariya was the only one who had any potential for magecraft in a Magus family who's capabilities as mages had been weakening over the decades. Given the horrific nature of Matou magecraft, however, the young man wanted nothing to do with it and walked away from that life, hoping that the horrible secrets of Matou magecraft would die as a result.

Kariya's hopes were dashed, however, when he learned, to his horror, that Sakura, the daughter of the woman he loved but could never have lest she suffered the fate that any Matou had to face to learn their family's magecraft, had been given to his family to be raised as their heir, if one can call it that. For a Matou, being "raised" meant going through "training" to learn their magecraft. For Sakura, this meant being both tortured and _violated_ by the abominations that were the worms used in Matou magecraft, all at the hands of the decrepit vampiric worm that was the Matou family head, one Zouken Matou.

Kariya, who saw both Sakura and her sister by birth Rin as daughters and cared for them and their mother more than anything or anyone else, was forced to make a deal with Zouken: Zouken would free Sakura if Kariya agreed to undergo the very "training" that he despised and won the Grail. And so, for the past year, Kariya had been forced to undergo the intense torment that was the training to learn Matou magecraft, with untold numbers of the worms being forced into his body.

These worms, which were forced into Kariya in greater amounts than was safe due to the time constraints and his lack of training, had eaten away at Kariya's body and, after almost a year, it clearly showed; his black hair had turned white, and his veins were enlarged and pulsed as the worms moved around inside of him. In his current state, he would undoubtedly die due to the worm's damage within a month at best, so time was of the essence for Kariya and he knew it.

Thankfully, he had been chosen as the Master of the Berserker-class Servant which, while costly in terms of Kariya's remaining life span due to the amount of mana said class required, was the most powerful of the Servants which helped improve his odds of winning. To further improve his chances Zouken provided Kariya (though not for reasons of empathy, as one could imagine) two additional lines to the summoning incantation that would imbue the Servant with the Mad Enhancement skill, trading the Servant's sanity for greater power. Zouken also provided Kariya with a catalyst in the form a piece of armor used by Lancelot, the greatest of the Knights of the Round Table from Arthurian legend.

Now, with the war only a day away, Kariya was inside the basement of the Matou mansion preparing to summon his Servant, with Zouken watching over him, much to Kariya's disgust.

"So, are you ready?" Zouken asked in a smug tone as he looked down on his "son."

Kariya turned to face the Matou head, his expression clearly filled with bitter hate and disgust even under all the changes to his physical being.

"Yes... let's just get this over with," Kariya spat out.

Zouken flashed a smile, pissing Kariya even more as the Master contemplated the possibility of killing Zouken the moment he saved Sakura.

"Then let us begin. You can start with the summoning," Zouken said with his very creepy tone.

Kariya clenched his fists and turned away from Zouken, while trying to calm himself down, to face the summoning circle and, after taking a deep breath, began the chant.

" _Silver and iron to the origin. Gem and the archduke of contracts to the cornerstone. The ancestor is my great master Schweinorg._

 _The alighted wind becomes a wall. The gates in the four directions close, coming from the crown, the three-forked road that leads to the kingdom circulate._

 _Shut (fill). Shut (fill). Shut (fill). Shut (fill). Shut (fill)._

 _Repeat every five times._

 _Simply, shatter once filled._

 _――――I announce._

 _Your self is under me, my fate(doom) is in your sword._

 _In accordance with the approach of the Holy Grail, if you abide by this feeling, this reason, then answer._

 _Here is my oath. I am the one who becomes all the good of the world of the dead, I am the one who lays out all the evil of the world of the dead._

 _You, seven heavens clad in three words of power, arrive from the ring of deterrence, O keeper of the balance ―――!_

 _Yet, thou serves with thine eyes clouded in chaos._

 _Thou, bound in the cage of madness. I am he who command those chains._ "

For a few seconds, nothing happened... then, out of nowhere, a blast of blue light erupted from the circle, which also incinerated the piece of armor that had been placed in the center of the circle. After a few seconds, the light dispersed, allowing a good look at the Servant who had been summoned. Like with Kirei and Kayneth almost three weeks ago, Kariya was quick to realize something was wrong. While the Servant standing before him was a male Caucasian and wore a suit of black armor (the armor piece used as a catalyst for the summoning was clearly black in color) it was clear that this was not Lancelot of the Lake.

The Servant standing before Kariya and Zouken looked relatively young, easily being somewhere in his twenties though, to the untrained eye, he might appear to be in his thirties. He was a rather large man, standing about 6' 3" with a very muscular build. He had short, mostly black, hair styled in constant, short pointy spikes, with a few strands at the base of his hairline, some of those strands being white in color, hanging just above his forehead. His face was without wrinkles but had clear signs of damage from past wars in his life in the form of a scar that ran across the bridge of his nose and a right eye that remained closed as if he were blinded in that eye but had not bothered to cover it up. His left eye was open, however, allowing Kariya and Zouken to see it's brown color and steely gaze that almost made both of them back up in fear with its intensity.

He wore a long black cape over his other attire with a hood that was pulled down. Underneath the hooded cape, he wore a suit of fearsome-looking black armor. Strapped across the armor's chest plate was a brown strap that holstered several knives; around his waist there was another strap that held several pouches, which Kariya assumed were additional weapons of some kind.

There were two things that stood out to Kariya that were also the reasons why he rightly guess that this wasn't Lancelot. The first thing was the left arm which was clearly a prosthetic of some sort which, despite the medieval armor that the Servant dressed in, looked unusually advanced and gave the impression that it was more than just a replacement for a lost limb. The most telling feature of this Servant, however, is the blade he carried on his back, which is presumably his main weapon and Noble Phantasm, as it was clearly nothing like Lancelot's Arondight. This Servant's sword was MASSIVE, being even taller than its apparent wielder (just like Lancer's halberd) and was large enough to make a crossguard pointless, and looked more like a massive slab of iron with a double-bladed edge and a hilt than an actual blade. Besides it's size, however, there was a strange sensation emanating from the blade, as though it were somehow of this world yet not of this world at the same time.

Overall, if this Servant's power matched this intimidating appearance, Kariya's chances of winning were very good even if this wasn't the person he intended to summon, a thought that Zouken was quick to voice.

"It looks like you aren't a complete failiure after all, Kariya. You summoned a servant, a powerful at that... even if it isn't Lancelot."

Kariya glared at Zouken as the mysterious servant turned to face Kariya and spoke, which he did in a rather rough sounding voice.

"I am the servant Berserker. I assume that you were the one who summoned me?"

"Yeah," Kariya managed to grunt out, while showing the Command Seals on his right hand, before he went into a coughing fit.

However, something unexpected happened as Kariya's legs suddenly gave in and he collapsed on the ground. Apparently, the summoning ritual had taken a lot more out of him than expected. Berserker raised an eyebrow at this as Zouken spoke.

"Hm, perhaps I spoke too soon."

Berserker look over to the source of the voice with a look of disgust on his face, the Servant clearly taking a dislike to the Matou head almost instantly. This became obvious when he pointed his prosthetic arm at the ancient mage.

"Who or what the hell are you?" Berserker sneered.

Zouken didn't answer immediately, causing Berserker to narrow his eyes as he prepared to launch an attack... until Kariya, who just got to his shaking feet, spoke.

"Don't... bother, Berserker... he won't die... regardless of whatever attack you use... We should just... leave this place and..." he said weakly before his legs buckled underneath him, the Master having yet to recover from the drain on him caused by the summoning of Berserker.

Before he could fall to the ground, however, Berserker grabbed his Master, lifted said Master's left arm over his shoulders in order to carry his master, and started walking towards the nearest bedroom, his Master in tow.

"You're out of your mind if think you're in any condition to do anything but rest... so that's what you're going to do, got it?" Berserker said rather bluntly.

As Zouken looked on at this he, like many of the other Masters, could only wonder what had transpired to have this being summoned and what it could mean for the war to come...

Next Time - The Seventh & Eight Servants!


	2. 2 The Seventh & Eighth Servants!

**Chapter 2 - The Seventh & Eight Servants!**

 **A/N: Hello, my brothers and sisters! It's me, Rocker1600. I apologize for the long delay in any updates in the past several months; while I'd like to go into the details as to my absence, I can't be asked to give my life story so instead let's just say that I've been busy for a while. Anyway here's an even longer chapter than the last (over 7,700+ words of actual story and 400+ words about stuff other than the story proper) in a desperate attempt to make up for the lack of anything this year.**

 **Before we get started, I have some important things to say after the end of the chapter so read the A/N(s) that you see at the bottom, ok? There is also something I discuss about the chapter so check that out if you're interested as well.**

 **Finally, thanks again to DocHoliday0316 for helping me with this chapter. You're an awesome friend, and I pity the fools who don't check his stories out... including an up-coming one-shot he plans to post very soon!**

 **Anyways, onto the disclaimer and the chapter!**

Disclaimer: I don't own the Fate series or any of the other series which appear in this fic. Any characters and other related items are the property of their respective copyright holders.

Please fave, follow, and review this story.

[Unspecified Room, Fuyuki Police Station, Fuyuki City]

 _Current Time..._

It was almost midnight in Fuyuki, a time when most people were sound asleep in their homes, especially if they were children. One child, however, didn't have the luxury of sleep at the moment and, even if he did, he couldn't sleep after what had happened to him that night. Said child, a young boy, was alone in a room that, other than a one-way mirror, a table and two chairs, was devoid of any decorative features. The boy was seated in one of the two chairs in a curled up position with his arms wrapped around his legs and was quiet, not making a sound. The boy had arrived at the local police station only a hour earlier and had been alone in the room for only half that time; to the young child, however, it felt like much more time had passed and for good reason.

Suddenly, the door to the room opened and in walked a man. Said man was in their thirties and had rustled brown hair, including some facial hair in the form of a slightly unshaven chin, matching brown eyes, and wore a worn black suit, matching tie and shoes included, with a white shirt underneath the jacket and a silver belt buckle that held his pants up.

"Hello, there. I'm Detective Daisuke Akimi. What's your name?" the now-named Daisuke said in a comforting tone, the detective knowing that a delicate touch was needed for this situation.

"Kyosuke... my name is Kyosuke..." he said with what sounded like a knot in his throat.

Daisuke walked closer to the table as Kyosuke noticed that he was carrying what was clearly a McDonald's Happy Meal and a soda to accompany it (an officer went to buy it several minutes earlier) which the detective placed on the table in front of Kyosuke before he then sat down on the other chair in the room.

"I know it's late, but you said you didn't have any dinner so I brought you some food. You hungry?" Daisuke asked.

Kyosuke, who indeed hadn't been able to eat dinner due to the series of unfortunate events that led to him being in that room, nodded in the affirmative and opened the box to reveal a 4-piece Chicken McNuggets meal, with fries, a few packs of ketchup, napkins and a toy to complete the set.

As Kyosuke took his first bite in one of the McNuggets, Daisuke spoke up.

"Just so you know, we've managed to contact your aunt and uncle from Kyoto. They're coming to pick you up and should be here in the morning," the detective said in a reassuring manner, though Kyosuke barely registered what Daisuke told him as he continued his meal.

As Kyosuke was eating, Daisuke solemnly wondered how mentally scarred this boy must be for him to be this quiet and reserved, not that he could blame the kid after what he apparently went through.

Daisuke, who was the only available police detective in Fuyuki City (which was unusual for a city as large as Fuyuki), had been working late into the night, as he had been for the past several weeks, due to the string of murders that had been gripped Fuyuki City in fear. Several families in their entirety had been, for lack of a better term, _slaughtered_ by an unidentified serial killer.

The crime scenes were all the same in terms of their barbarity, as Daisuke could unfortunately attest to as he had visited all of them; the killer had done everything to his victims, from disemboweling their guts as they were still breathing to decapitation and, most sickening of all, the killer even seemed to cut open living victims and performing experiments on them as if they were cadavers in a medical school, like he was some mad and sadistic scientist. If that wasn't bad enough, there was evidence to suggest that he always killed his child victims last, with further evidence suggesting that he made them watch him perform his horrid deeds upon their families before he did the deed to them as well. As one could imagine, the amount of blood that was spilled at the scenes was beyond measure and, to make things even more surreal, the killer drew various occult symbols with the blood of his victims every time. Needless to say, the police were doing everything they possibly could to track down this killer and bring his killing spree to an end but, unfortunately, the culprit was very elusive and had managed to remain at large despite the cop's best efforts.

It was this murder spree that had kept Daisuke occupied for the past several weeks, the detective working around the clock, sometimes going without sleep for days at a time at the detriment to his own health. It was for this reason that he found himself at the station at that late hour when, an hour earlier, he heard a small commotion near his desk. Upon asking a fellow officer what was going on, he got the shocking news. Only a few minutes prior, a boy walked into the station and, upon being questioned, had made a shocking statement. The serial killer had, sadly, struck yet another household and killed almost everyone who lived there... _almost_ everyone. The boy was spared that fate when someone apparently went and _killed_ the mass murderer, stopping the killer and saving the boy in the process. After several lines of questioning the cops were able to confirm the boy's honesty and, with that, several cops raced to the supposed crime scene some time after they confirmed the location of said scene.

Now, after giving his initial statement (how he managed to do so without breaking down mentally was something beyond Daisuke's comprehension), that boy, Kyosuke, sat across the table from the detective, waiting for his surviving family to come get him and provide him with various forms of counseling that he would badly need. Whatever his feelings of sympathy he had for the boy, however, Daisuke had some very important questions that he needed to ask Kyosuke that risked worsening the emotional, mental, and psychological wounds that he had just suffered; it was a risk Daisuke knew he had to took, though he really didn't like it.

Taking a deep breath, Daisuke finally got to the matter at hand.

"Kyosuke... I know you already told the police what happened to you but, if you don't mind me asking, I need to know about the person who saved you from that monster. Could you tell me anything about this person?" Daisuke asked.

Kyosuke, who had just finished off his third McNugget, looked up at the detective with a somewhat confused expression on his face.

"What do you mean?" Kyosuke asked in response.

"Well, you didn't give any information on the person to the cops who spoke with you earlier and we need to speak with them. If you can tell us anything you remember about that person, it would be of great help," Daisuke pointed out.

Kyosuke thought about it for a moment before he answered.

"The thing is... everything just looks fuzzy when I think about it. I don't remember much of anything," he pointed out.

" _-I can't say I'm surprised. Give what he's been through, it's obvious his mind wants to shut out any memories he has of that horror-_ Please try," Daisuke insisted.

"Well, I remember that it was man with blue eyes. (he briefly pauses) Also I remember what he did after he came. (another brief pause) When he showed up... the monster... spoke to him, like he expected someone else to come. The monster then asked the man if he wanted to... eat me... I tried to break free when the monster said that but the ropes were too strong. I thought I was going to die... but..." Kyosuke began to explain before stopping mid-sentence, as if he wasn't sure he wanted to continue.

"'But?'" Daisuke parroted, trying to get Kyosuke move the story along, though it took a minute for him to do so.

"...The man looked at the monster. He looked like he was very mad with the monster. Then he turned to look at me and I saw the look on his face was different. He looked sad, like he was sorry for me, and said that he promised that wasn't going to hurt me and asked me to trust him. He sounded like a nice person and I felt like I could trust him for some reason... like he was my best friend or something. He then said 'Please close your eyes, turn your head to the other side, and don't look. You don't need to see what I'm about to do.' I did what he asked me to do... I didn't see what happened but I heard what happened; the man was fighting the monster, yelling at the monster in anger," Kyosuke continued as Daisuke wrote everything down.

"Everything went quiet after a while... and then the ropes the monster tied me up with, and with the cloth that covered my mouth, were untied before I heard the man tell me that I could get up. I stood up and I saw the man down on one knee and looking at me in the eye; I couldn't see the monster anywhere but I already knew... I knew what had happened to him. The man asked if I was ok and I told him that I was... he then said he was sorry, that he couldn't do anything for my mom and dad... he said if I wanted to cry that I could do it and that I could use his shoulder... so I did. I just kept crying and crying for a long time before I could stop. The man, who gave me a warm hug as I was crying, waited until I stopped before he asked me if there was someplace safe that I could go and I told him about the police station so he brought me here. When I was able to see the police station, though, I heard the man say that he'd watch me until I came inside. I turned to ask him something but he wasn't there... he disappeared. After that I just came in here; that's all I know," Kyosuke said, concluding his story before continuing his meal.

"I see... there's one more I need to ask you. Did the man who save you ever tell you his name?" Daisuke asked.

Kyosuke shook his head as he downed some fries.

"No... he never told me it. I was going to ask him before I came here but that's when he vanished," Kyosuke said after finishing that batch of fries.

"- _It seems as if_ _Kyosuke's telling the truth... I'll come and ask him some more questions if I have to but it seems there's nothing else I can get from speaking with him at this point.-_ Thank you, Kyosuke; this'll help me a great deal. Anyways, I have to go now but I'll be back as soon as I can. If you need anything, there's another officer right outside the door so feel free to ask for whatever you wish... within reason, of course," Daisuke said, having finished writing down the entire conversation, before he got up from his chair just as Kyosuke went back to eating.

The detective walked towards the room's exit and, upon opening the door and walking out, turned to his right to face the officer tasked with guarding Kyosuke.

"I've finished speaking with the boy, officer. If the boy asks for something, please be sure to accommodate him," Daisuke said.

"Understood, detective. You won't get any complaints from me, given what the poor little guy has gone through. Speaking of which, the Chief asked me to pass a message onto you. We've received word from Detective Yagami just a few moments ago; he's reached and secured the crime scene and needs you to head there ASAP," the officer explained.

During the night the events involving Kyosuke were happening, a detective from Japan's National Police Agency (NPA for short), who went by his surname of Yagami, was in Fuyuki due to his car having broken down on his way home to Tokyo (he had just finished helping an unrelated investigation in Nagasaki). So the detective was on hand when Kyosuke arrived at the station and decided to help Daisuke and his department, heading to the crime scene along with a squad of officers while Daisuke stayed behind to question the boy after which Daisuke planned to join his fellow detective at said scene.

Daisuke nodded in response to the officer's report before speaking.

"Thanks. Have the Chief inform Detective Yagami that I'm on my way," Daisuke replied before moving out.

As Daisuke headed towards the station parking lot to reach his squad car, a slew of questions swirled in his mind, all of which centered around three major questions: Who was the man who save Kyosuke? Why was he at the scene of the crime? Why did he save the boy?

Daisuke sighed as he realized he had no answers for the moment and, until he did, he resolved to focus on the matter at hand and confirm the end of the bastard who had murdered Kyosuke's family, and possibly several others, and pray that this was indeed the end of this grisly chapter in Fuyuki's history.

[Unspecified Park, Fuyuki City]

 _Elsewhere..._

It was a quiet night in this small park, though it made sense given the time, which was located several miles from the Police Station. In fact, the park was all but empty save for one person who didn't look like he belonged there, and not just because he stood atop one of the parks many lampposts.

The person in question was a male who appeared to be in his early thirties, who stood around six feet in height and was of a decent build. The man wore a white and red headpiece as well as a white cape, which was held together by a red rope that ran across the front of his neck, that had red flame-like motifs along the edges as well as while a series of red Kanji that were etched vertically down the back. Underneath the headpiece and cape, the man wore a long-sleeved orange sweatshirt with black stripes, black pants, black shin-high sandals, as well as a long red scarf that was wrapped around his neck.

In addition, the man had several pouches strapped to his pants, including one that was stained with blood that contained a dismembered right hand. Curiously enough, the man's own right arm was wrapped in bandages, right down to each finger, as though it badly burned. though one could only see the wrappings around the hand due to his sweatshirt's long sleeve covering the rest of his arm.

As for what lied underneath the attire, the man had a very curious facial feature in the form of six whisker-like marks, three on each cheek, that gave him a fox-like face. Besides the whisker marks, the man also had short, spiky blond hair as well as blue eyes... the same blue eyes that had comforted Kyosuke and had been filled with rage when the man lashed out at Kyosuke's tormentor.

For said eyes belonged to the Heroic Spirit that represented the Fourth Grail War's Caster-class Servant who now found himself without a Master after he killed the psycho who had summoned him, one Ryuunosuke Uryuu, for the horrid murders he had committed.

Caster, who was still in a bad mood due to the nature of his summoning, stood atop that lamppost as he tried to clear his mind when he heard a voice speak to him from within his mind.

" ** _There's nothing you could've done, you know. That psycho killed those people so he could perform that summon; it wasn't your fault so you shouldn't beat yourself up over it,_** " the voice said to the man in a deep, guttural tone that, if one didn't know any better, sounded like it was demonic in nature.

Caster let out a sigh, closing his eyes as he did so, before he responded to the voice in his head.

" _I'm not beating myself, Kurama. I know I couldn't do anything... but that bastard did all that to summon me. I think I have every right to be pissed off. You don't have to worry about me, though. I just need to calm down a bit, that's all,_ " Caster pointed out to the being he called Kurama.

" _ **I hope so... given the situation, you're going to have to stay focused. Speaking of** **which, what do you plan to do now... Naruto?**_ " Kurama asked.

" _Well, I don't know why I've been summoned as a Servant, since I don't have a wish... but I guess I'd like to see how I stack up against other great heroes. First things first, though, we need to find a place to sleep for the night. Then, I need to find a new Master to form a contract with, one that isn't a sick bastard like the one I just killed; even if I have an Independent Action Skill Rank of A, as well as all the power coming from you, I can't remain here forever without one and, even if I could, I also won't be able to go all out without a Master to anchor me here,_ " Caster pointed out.

" ** _Hmph, we can't go all out even if you did have a Master; this cheap excuse for power means that we're not as strong as we would be using chakra like when you were still alive,_** " Kurama retorted, though he did so mostly out of frustration due to how weak he felt Prana was compared to it and Naruto's original energy. _  
_

" _It's not that much weaker than chakra so we should count our blessings... it could've been a lot worse, Kurama. Anyways, the war begins tomorrow so I should be able to find a new Master soon,_ " Caster said to which Kurama simply grunted out a weak 'We'll see...' before going back to sleep.

At this point Caster opened his eyes and, after briefly scanning the area, let out another sigh.

"It's time to go," he said to himself out loud before he moved from his position on top of the lamppost, doing so at such speeds that he seemed to vanish into thin air.

With that Caster, who was once known as Naruto Uzumaki, was on the move. The famed Seventh Hokage has stormed his way into the Fourth Holy Grail War...

[Secret Basement, Tohsaka Manor]

 _Meanwhile..._

"Are you sure about that?" Tokiomi Tohsaka asked, a slight hint of surprise in his voice.

" _Yes, the Master of Caster has been dead for the past few hours yet Caster still lives,_ " the voice of Risei said, said voice coming through to Tokiomi through a strange magical device. It served as a sort of secret communication device that was similar in function to a telephone.

Tokiomi, the Master of Archer-class Servant, had one hell of week up to this point. It started shortly before he had summoned his Servant a week earlier when he prepared to summon the fabled King of Heroes himself, the Sumerian King known as Gilgamesh. While he had been making preparations for the summoning well before he actually did the deed, the news that Kirei's summoning had not gone according to plan as his catalyst didn't work, leading to a post-Hassan Assassin like Ezio to be summoned, made Tokiomi very concerned, hence why he checked over his preparations again and again in order to be absolutely sure that his summoning didn't also go array as well. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on one's perspective, Tokiomi's summoning of Archer went off without a hitch, the catalyst used for the summoning working exactly as it was meant to when Gilgamesh emerged from the summoning circle in the basement of the Tohsaka Manor. This can be seen as unfortunate for Tokiomi, however, as it was clear that the so-called "King of Heroes" didn't act like a hero himself. To be blunt, Gilgamesh was, and this is putting it gently, an arrogant prick. It took all of Tokiomi's patience to keep his Servant complacent and cooperative. This had been going on for the past week and this was not the only complication he had to deal with.

Besides Kirei, there were supposedly a couple of other Masters in the Grail War who didn't get the Servants they were hoping for, which left many unknown variables that troubled Tokiomi to no end. It's unknown for now whether or not the now former Master of Caster summoned the Heroic Spirit he/she intended but, given the fact that said spirit killed them, it was clear that the Caster's summoning had gone wrong in its own special way. All of these complications took a backseat, however, to the one involving Kirei and the Assassin he was stuck with, which Tokiomi decided to address now.

"I see... then we'll have to keep an eye out for that situation. In any case, we must discuss on the matter regarding Assassin. Since he's not 100-Faced Hassan, we can't use his multiple split personalities. Does Assassin have any abilities that can be used for the plan we already arranged?" Tokiomi asked.

From his side of the communication link, Tokiomi heard a brief sigh from Risei before the latter responded.

" _My son did mention that Assassin does have an ability that could've resolved the issue. Unfortunately, it involves summoning members of his Brotherhood and would, therefore, still involve using Post-Hassan Assassins so that's out of the question,_ " Risei answered.

Tokiomi narrowed his eyes upon hearing this, understandably frustrated with this turn of events even if, aside from his narrowed eyes, he didn't let it show. Having someone like Ezio taking part in this war complicated things for the alliance between him, Risei, and Kirei since Ezio, despite being a much stronger Assassin-class Servant than 100-Faced Hassan, was the kind of Assassin Magus try to avoid summoning.

The fact was that while technically any member of the Assassin Order was capable of being summoned as an Assassin-class Servant, there was an unspoken rule among the related parties of the Grail War that only the Hassans were to be summoned as Servants. The reason for this was rather simple: the Assassins, despite what historians might tell you, still exist up to the present day, though it was a different order than the one the Hassans had created. Early on in the history of the order, a faction of Assassins overthrew the Hassans, who the faction had bitter disagreements over the future of the order, as the heads of the order and eventually cast the Hassans out of the order altogether. This version of the order is the one that has more or less existed to the present day. Of course, the Mage's Association and the Church were both concerned how the Assassins, who were on good terms with both organizations, might react to one of their fabled members being forced to fight in the Grail War (curiously enough, the Mage's Association and the Church never actually broached the matter with the Assassins). Fearing the potential repercussions, those Magus that are selected to be the Master of the Assassin-class Servant always made sure to choose among the deposed Hassans in order to avoid that messy situation.

Tokiomi sighed as he realized that none of this mattered for him given the situation.

" _I guess Grail could care less about the situation with the Assassins. As it stands, we'll have to change our plans,_ " Tokiomi thought to himself before returning to his conversation with Risei.

"Very well, then. We'll have to come up with a new strategy, seeing as our original plan is unfeasible now. We should get into contact with Kirei-kun as soon as possible to discuss our next move," Tokiomi suggested.

" _Agreed. I'll call back once I can establish a line of communication between the three of us. Then we'll decide what our next move is,_ " Risei said before the line was abruptly cut on his end.

Letting out another sigh, Tokiomi deactivate the device and was about to get up from his seat when he suddenly heard the sound of a chuckle let out from somewhere in the basement.

"It seems you are in quite in a situation, no?" a clearly male voice said in what Tokiomi thought was an Italian accent.

Tokiomi, while maintaining his calm and elegant demeanor, was nonetheless taken aback by the sudden intrusion.

"Who said that? Identify yourself," he said very sternly, which only got another light chuckle out of the mystery man.

"You must calm yourself, messere (sir). If your Servant allowed me to come down to speak with you, it's safe to say that I'm no threat," the mysterious voice said reassuringly.

Before Tokiomi could register those words, the source of the mystery voice revealed itself. It emerged from a long shadow that obscured a corner of the room, right across from where Tokiomi stood.

The person in question was a Caucasian man who appeared to be in his late 40s, although it was hard to tell due to the fact that most of his face was concealed by a hood. From what could be seen, the most prominent feature of his face was his long nose and purple eyes. The man wore a brown cloak and hood over a set of Renaissance era clothing. The clothing consisted of a golden colored, striped tunic over a burnt orange undershirt, burnt orange pants, and a pair of brown shoes. The man's choice of clothing reminded Tokiomi of a fox.

"Is that so? And who might you be?" Tokiomi asked, still able to maintain his calm and dignified demeanor. This was despite the fact that an intruder was able to get past the defenses surrounding his home, convinced someone like Archer to let him pass through, and now stood across the room from the Tohsaka Family Head.

"I went by many names in my lifetime... but, for the sake of simplicity, you may call me La Volpe (The Fox), I've been sent here by Ser Ezio, the one you call Assassino (Assassin), to discuss the current situation, seeing as how your plans are now unfeasible," the now-named La Volpe explained.

"Really... and how did he learn about our plans?"

"That is something Ser Ezio would like to keep a secret as it pertains to certain, shall we say, techniques used by our order. What I can give you is a proposition from our Maestro (teacher). It is an alternative to your plan. Now, you originally wanted the Hundred-Faced Hassan to fake his death against Archer, correct?"

"Yes."

"Well, what Ezio suggest is this: my associates and I will stage a scene. We will make it look like Sir Ezio attacked you, and that your servant, Archer, killed him. With the rest of the masters thinking that he is dead, Sir Ezio is free to roam as he likes. Will this suffice?"

Tokiomi scratched his chin in thought, carefully considering his decisions. After remaining quiet for about a minute, he gave his reply.

"I believe that this will work. You have my thanks, La Volpe."

"The pleasure is mine, Ser Tohsaka," La Volpe replied as he slowly walked back to the shadows. Tokiomi then poured himself a glass of wine, and took a sip. It seems like things were going back on track... for now. He made a mental note to inform Risei of this discussion (assuming Kirei didn't inform his father before that).

Even with this reversal, however, Tokiomi dreaded what would happen if the Assassins learned of these developments.

[Fuyuki Church]

 _Meanwhile..._

Inside the basement of the church, Risei just got up from where he had just been speaking with Tokiomi. Risei let out a sigh as he let the contents of their discussion stewed in his head. Risei felt a sense of dread gnawing at him; the fighting had not even started and already there were complications plaguing the secret alliance between Tokiomi, Risei, and Kirei, not to mention the issues surrounding the botched summoning of a few other Servants.

For Risei, these developments were eerily similar to those of the previous conflict, the disaster that was the Third Holy Grail War. That prior conflict had the deserved reputation of being the clusterfuck of the Grail Wars that have occurred so far. Between the summoning of a new class of Servant (the Avenger-class replacing Berserker), albeit the Servant in question was rather weak, the involvement of troops from both Nazi Germany and the Imperial Japan Army (the war occurred in the mid-1930s, on the eve of World War 2), all of whom had to be killed will the Church and Magi had to then cover-up (compounded by the Einzberns former connections with the Third Reich that would also lead to another conflict in which the Assassins were involved), and a botched summoning of the Grail, that the Third Grail War had been inconclusive was a minuscule detail by comparison. It was such a disaster that the stress from supervising that war caused a then young Risei's hair to gray despite him being only in his twenties. Now, 60 years later, Risei had the sinking feeling that history was on course to repeat itself and, given the circumstances, the increased risk of the Grail War (and everything tied to it) being exposed to the general public might very well be the least of his coming problems.

Before Risei could contemplate on the situation any further, his mind was brought back to reality when he heard a loud crackle, akin to the sound of thunder, the source of which seemed to come from the church above... and it didn't take long for Risei to figure out what that meant.

" _Another Servant is being summoned? How is that even possible? All of the classes have already been accounted for. Who could have summoned another Servant? And why here, of all places?_ " Risei thought to himself.

Despite the potential danger, Risei headed up the stairs that led from the basement to the church above. Exiting the basement, which was connected to one of the church's backrooms, Risei reached for the door leading to the main room in the church and, upon opening it, he saw that his suspicions were dead right... partly...

A summoning circle had indeed opened up, right in front of the pulpit of the church... yet there's was no sign of anyone in the church who could've been the one who performed the summoning ritual. Risei quickly looked at both his hands to see if he did anything, unlikely as that possibility was. His right hand, and indeed his entire right arm, did have Command Seals, but those were spare Command Seals, leftovers from all the previous Grail Wars, that were provided to any supervisor of the Grail War and, in any case, had not been altered nor had the seals reacted to this development while his left hand was bare, with no indication of any Command Seals being etched into it. Having confirmed that he had not somehow summoned a Servant by accident, Risei looked up to the summoning circle in time to see something emerge from the circle; as the that happened the circle erupted into a bright flash of light that forced Risei to shield his face until the flash dissipated. With the flash of light having come and gone, Risei again turned to face the spot that the summoning circle had emerged from only to see that it had disappeared, though it left something behind... or, rather, it had left _someone_ behind.

Standing where the summoning circle had been was a man of Caucasian descent. He appeared to be in his late-teens, with Risei guessing that he was around 18 years, and was rather tall, standing at around 5'10'', though he had a rather thin, scrawny build. The Servant had black hair and violet eyes that, to Risei, seemed to be hiding some sort of secret (though did not know what it was or why he felt that way). The Servant wore a black shirt underneath a crimson jacket and grey trousers, a rather modern casual attire for someone who was supposed to a Heroic Spirit. The most striking feature of this Servant, however, and the ones that really caught Risei's attention were on the Servant's hands. Etched onto the back of those hands were a series of red markings, each being a different image from the others. Risei was shocked by the sight of those markings, though he didn't let his show, for he knew what they were: Command Seals.

An eighth Servant, with no Master to speak of, seemingly summoned out of nowhere and bearing Command Seals (Risei noted that two the this Servant's set of Command seals resembled those of both the Servant classes of Tokiomi and Kirei); for Risei, despite after all that he had seen and experienced since the start of the Third Grail War, this was a new and disconcerting experience and, yet again, was a ill omen in Risei's mind.

After a few moments of silence, the young Servant lifted his head, as it had had been hung downwards since his summoning, and took a measured look at his surroundings.

"So... it seems the Grail summoned me here. At least it didn't have me summoned at the far end of this city," he thought to himself out loud in English with what sounded like an American accent (Risei recognized the language and accent from a few trips he made to the US in his younger days); to Risei, the Servant's voice made him sound like someone of great sophistication, flamboyance, and possibly arrogance all at once.

Risei's musings were again cut short when he noticed the Servant eyeing seals the on his right arm. The Servant briefly turned his gaze towards the Risei, then looked at the latter's seal, then turned his look to Risei again before addressing the priest.

"Good evening, father. Based on the Command Seals on your arm, am I right to assume that you're the mediator of the Grail War?" he asked.

Risei, though somewhat taken aback how this Servant was already aware of his role in the Grail War (rather than assume that he was a Master and, therefore, an enemy), managed to keep his compose without too much difficulty as he briefly considered his response before he gave said response.

"Yes. As the representative of the Holy Church, I am the mediator of the Fourth Grail War. Now I must ask you to identify yourself, Servant," Risei said.

"Indeed... allow me to introduce myself," the mystery Servant said, with much more dramatic flair than his previous lines of dialogue.

"I am the representative of the Holy Grail itself. My name is Lelouch vi Britannia, Ruler-class Servant of this Fourth Holy Grail War," Ruler declared.

[Matou Residence]

 _Meanwhile..._

At around same time Ruler was introducing himself to Risei, Berserker was wandering the halls of the Matou manor, a look of indifference on his face. Apparently, the mere act of summoning Berserker had taken a lot out of Kariya, who was now resting after his conversation with his Servant in which Kariya was surprised to learn that the Servant of Madness he summoned was actually very lucid, intelligent, and much saner than your typical Berserker. Berserker, for his part, had just learned why Kariya had was fighting in the Grail War, or more accurately for whom he was fighting for, why Kariya was in such a sickly state and, by extension, why that decrepit old magus Zouken did these things to said Master. Not surprisingly, the latter revelation disgusted the Servant to no end.

Despite his thoughts on the matter, Berserker had to begrudgingly admit to himself that, while what that monster did was beyond despicable (to put it mildly), it clearly worked as he could now feel fresh prana flowing through his connection with Kariya. As soon as Kariya recuperated, however, he planned to leave the area, which the Servant felt couldn't happen fast enough, the man refusing to stay in the manor any longer than he had to.

In the meantime, Berserker decided to take a look around the manor, all the while acting as though he were looking for something... or someone.

Berserker suddenly stopped in front of a door that lead to a cellar of some sort. He remembered that the room behind that door. It was the place where he was summoned from, and from which emanated a foul stench that was all too familiar to him.

"This must be it," Berserker muttered as he opened the door, though seemingly with some trepidation at what he might find. The old magus did not restrict his movements so there was no harm in entering it. The Black Swordsman took a few steps inside before he saw something; his one good eye widened at what he saw.

The entire room was filled with worms. There were thousands of them wriggling, all disgusting and phallic. Every inch of the floor was covered with them, and in the middle of the room was a little girl with purple hair and matching eyes. Berserker immediately recognized her as Sakura (Kariya showed a picture of her to the Servant, even if the image was of a Sakura with brown hair and blue eyes), the girl that Kariya seemed to care so much about being... _violated_... by those worms. The Servant of Madness then looked into her eyes. Her eyes possessed an almost dead gaze filled with despair, a look that Berserker knew all too well.

It was the same look that he had when he was violated after his childhood mentor betrayed him and sold him to a sick pedophile. The same look that he saw in the eyes of his lover when she was violated by that bastard, the one who had been his best friend, and the one who betrayed him, his lover, and all their friends and comrades who were _sacrificed_ that day. And while she was being defiled, he was pinned down and forced to watch, after sacrificing his arm in an ultimately futile attempt to try and stop him.

It was pure hell, the kind of horror no human should ever have to endure... and one that Berserker personally knew about all too well.

" _So this is what you meant by saving this girl, Kariya; you threw your own life away to fight for hers. I see... perhaps you're a bit stronger than I gave you credit for,_ " Guts thought to himself.

Perhaps this is compelled him to act, though he did not know for sure, but, for whatever reason, Berserker decided to basically pull a 'screw the Grail. I'm saving this girl now'-move, and jumped down into the pit, kicking the worms away as he made his way towards Sakura before scooping her up with his right arm.

Berserker quickly made his way up the stairs before a decrepit voice made its presence known.

"Let her go, Berserker."

Berserker whipped his head and glared at the ancient magus known as Zouken Matou stood in front of him. After a few moments of tense quiet, Berserker broke the silence.

"Tell me something, what did I just see? What were you doing to this girl and... why?"

"It is the same thing I did to your master; it is the only way she can inherit our clan's magic. As for why, the answer is obvious. I do not expect that fool Kariya to win the war, so I must groom a heir for the next war. I have no intention of giving her back to her family and there is nothing you or Kariya can do about it. So put her down."

The Servant of Madness sneered as he continued to glare at Zouken.

"Do you honestly think I would be intimidated by the likes of you?"

Zouken raised an eyebrow at this as Berserker continued to speak.

"The only thing I have known in my life is fighting. I have slayed countless men, apostles, demons, and gods. I have seen horrors that would of driven any man insane yet kept fighting. I've been fighting for my life from the day I was born and against odds that would make this Grail War look like a joke. Compared to all that, you barely register as a threat. You act like your my better and yet you can only hold power over a dying man and a little girl when they're both clearly stronger than you ever were. You're nothing... nothing but a pathetic little bug, a parasite whose time has been long overdue."

Zouken himself sneered angrily at the servant's words.

"I do not need to hear this, especially from a glorified familiar. I can kill your master with a mere thought, so put the girl down... or else."

Berserker seemingly complied as he laid the girl down on the ground. Zouken smirked at this; apparently this servant was all bark and no bite. However, Berserker then turned to face Zouken again.

"At this moment, you probably could kill Kariya, given that his temporarily bed-ridden. Of course, there's just one problem with that plan," Berserker said.

"And what would that be?" Zouken asked with a scoff before Berseker did something unexpected and gripped the massive sword strapped to his back.

" _Does he seriously think that would work? How pathetic, you fool,_ " Zouken thought to himself in amusement, knowing that a physical attack could never kill him.

"You can't kill Kariya... if I kill you first!" Berserker roared before, within the time it took to blink, Berserker swung his sword and bisected Zouken in two, the old magus's top half slamming into a wall.

As Zouken was bisected, the old man's mind registered that something was wrong.

"W-What is this?!" Zouken gaped as he felt his life leaving his body and his soul feeling like it had been cut the same way.

Zouken turned to look to the lower half of his body, which crumpled into a pile of worms which should have immediately moved and to reform his body but instead only crumpled in a heap that was dead as Zouken was now destined to be in the next few moments. It wasn't just the worms that had been cut as Zouken realized that Guts didn't just cut his body of worm familiars... he had damaged his soul as well. He couldn't understand how was this possible. What was happening to him was inconceivable. His "body" was his soul anchored to his familiars but his soul was still an astral existence. No physical attacks should be able to harm him.

Such a thing should be impossible... but, for Berserker, there was no such thing as impossible.

In fact, this feat was a trivial thing for him.

"Kariya already told me about you and your 'body.' Did you really think I would've attacked you if I wasn't able to kill you? You let your arrogance get the better of you and now you're going to pay for what you've done with your own miserable life," Berserker said as he approached the dying worm.

While it is true that no ordinary attacks could kill Zouken, he didn't know that Berserker's blade, known to those in his world by the name of Dragonslayer, was not an ordinary Noble Phantasm. Because he had killed so many demons it had been drenched in enough demonic blood to allow it to exist in any and all of the physical and/or astral planes of existence.

As result, Dragonslayer is now capable of cutting down any being, natural or supernatural, such as demons, gods, and even ghosts and other wayward souls... including the soul of Zouken Matou.

Before Zouken could say anything else or allow another thought to pass through mind, Berserker swung his blade again, this time separating the old Magus' head from his torso, finishing him off for good.

Zouken Matou, the ancient head of one of the Great Magi Families, was no more.

"Rot in hell, worm," the Black Swordsman said with a savage grin on his face as he slammed his foot down on Zouken's skull, crushing the dead worms that made up the dead man's head.

Berserker, who was known in his lifetime as the man called Guts to those who knew him and the being called The Black Swordman to everyone else, had made his first kill in the Fourth Holy Grail War.

It would not be his last...

Next Time - For Another's Sake

 **Story Note(s):**

 **\- Yes, I did indeed skip Caster's summoning and his totally justified murder of Ryunnosuke, mostly because I wanted to tell said scene from a different perspective from the norm (besides, it's Hokage Naruto; we all know how that would play out anyways). Furthermore this allows me to both address a certain issue overlooked in both the Fate series proper and most Fate fanfics (that being why the fuck the cops don't seem to do anything to investigate the abnormal events that result from the Grail Wars) while also opening up the possibly of a plot-line said police, specifically Detective Akimi, and a bunch of other stuff.**

 **\- In case you haven't noticed yet, these first few chapters will be mostly setup. I promise things will pick up, though, so bear with me on this.**

 **Now onto the important updates:**

 **A/N: For those who follow another fellow fanfic author, one HurricaneGohan94, you might've learned that he scrapped several of his stories a while back, including one called "Parallel Uzumaki: Soul Awakening." Well, guess who's bringing that story back from the dead (if you can't figure it out, here's a hint: it's obviously ME, genius!)? I will be uploading the chapters HurrianceGohan has already written next week after I make a change or two and, yes, this is the second fic I adopted from the guy.**

 **A/N: I will be gone, or at least I think I will from July 18th to August 2nd as I will be on a trip to Nicaragua (this has happened before so don't be so surprised). Assuming I don't get a chance to access the internet long enough there, don't expect anything new from me until I return.**

 **I'll see you all later. This is Rocker1600, signing out!**


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